A premier private hospital in the Alipore area has been charged with money lending business showing a huge inflated bill of Rs 4.90 lakh for nine days of treatment.

West Bengal Clinical Establishment Regulatory Commission (WBCERC) found the irregularities after the patient party moved the commission, sole body for monitoring patient care and treatment charges in private healthcare facilities in the state, requesting its interventions.

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The WBCERC has directed the director of health services (DHS) Dr S Neyogi to submit an action taken report (ATR) against the hospital. The commission has also asked the police administration to keep strict vigil at the hospital.

“It can never be accepted when a leading hospital is found indulging in money lending business instead of patient care,” Justice Asim Banerjee, WBCERC chairman, told reporters during a press conference on Friday.

According to findings of the WBCERC, 43-year-old Faiz Hossain was admitted to the hospital along Diamond Harbour Road on 18 January showing symptoms of epigastric pain, nausea and severe constipation for a few days.

Doctors, including a general medicine expert and a gastro surgeon attending to him decided to perform a surgery on him. But relatives of the patient decided to discharge him on a risk bond from the hospital after the inflated bills.

The hospital authorities charged Rs 4.90 lakh for his treatment without any surgery. The inflated bills raised eyebrows of the patient and his relatives.

“It was really surprising to us when we saw all the bills including charges for medicines and doctors’ fees. The hospital charged Rs 2.80 lakh only for consumable medicines and Rs 17,800 for two doctors, who attended to the patient nine times each at the hospital. There were two types of fees: Rs 875 and Rs 1,200 respectively for every visit to the patient. Each doctor attended to the patient five times @Rs1,200 and four times @875,” Justice Banerjee said.

Charges for several drugs, nasal cannula and heated breathing tube in the hospital were found higher than that of other hospitals.

The patient party paid Rs3.40 lakh out of the exact bills Rs 4.90 lakh. But they found the rest of Rs 1.50 lakh had been paid by a finance company though neither the patient nor his relatives contacted the money lending agency.

“The hospital’s billing clerk made the payment of the outstanding bills Rs 1.50 lakh with the finance agency keeping the patient party completely in the dark. It’s a highly illegal practice and I have asked the hospital authorities to get the issue of dues with the finance company instead of the patient party,” the commission chairman, a retired judge of Calcutta High Court, said.

“How did the hospital get a corporate sponsored loan from the finance company? The DHS has been informed about the irregularities and asked to take proper action,” he added.